Ah – the sweet (and sweaty) season of NFL training camps is upon us. Any other football addicts interested on kicking off a mock draft or three? I am keen on experimenting with some auctions this year, and I have set one up on a free site in the hopes that I can find some fellow dopers to encourage my obsessions.
Password: cecil
I’m not certain whether the direct link will take you to the sign up option, so here is the front door: http://www.xpertleagues.com/signup.php4
You are looking under “Mock Drafts” for “The Mock Dope”.
I hope to see some of you there.
Ah, you know you just load up your team with Bucs players anyway. If I may be permitted a brief hijack, what do you see as the Bucs’ chances this year? Certainly look to be improving as a prospect for fantasy players, but I see them probably finishing third in their division.
Third?!!
Blasphemer.
Actually, NFC South looks like a tough division. I won’t believe in the Saints, though, until Haslett shows that he can get them to play hard for a full year. Too much talent on both sides of the ball to be as consistently mediocre as they have for the last 4 years. I also am an Atlanta skeptic. Vick is an amazing talent, but I wonder whether he will develop the accuracy that he will need to thrive in the West Coast offense they aqre asking him to run. He will forever be a great player to watch, bu t the same talents and fearlessness that make him so entertaining also make him an injury waiting to happen. Dynamic running QB’s either learn to pass accurately and dump off the ball or they have short carreers in teh NFL.
Carolina is tough. But I can’t believe that they will again have a year in which every close game (until the big one!!) breaks in their favor. It’s hard to imagin that the Panthers will suffer the same drop off that plagued the Bucs and Raiders and Rams and Patriots and Ravens and . . . after their Super Bowl years, but the pattern has become persuasive. Still, I see the Bucs and Panthers fighting it out for first in the division.
My own rose-tinted assessment of the Bucs is:
D has a chance to be outstanding. Much of their trouble last year was due to poor secondary play, particularly tackling, and sloopy play by every linebacker not named Brooks. The first problem was due mainly to injuries. Kelly missed most of the season and Barber played hurt for all of it. Lynch was also a step slow at times (I hated to see him go, and I fear we will miss his tenacious leadership, but athletically we will be improved at safety.) Dwight Smith will also benefit if we manage to avoid Cb injuries this year. His adjustement to free safety suffered last year from having to slide to nickel back on obvious passing downs. Ian Gold helps solidify one linebacker spot, and if Quarles stays healthy then I think he will again be fine at Mike. D-Line looks deep and talented. McFarlane will do fine replacing Sapp, and it looks like we will have a good battle for starting right end. Unfortunately, the rest of the D lacks this depth. We could be outstanding, but we could also be two undortunate injuries away from “good but nothing special”.
On O, we are lining up a whole lot of question marks and trusting Gruden to turn them into a success story. I wish McCardekll were in camp. Galloway looks great after 2 days in shorts, buit it’s been 4-years since he really scared opposing coordinators. He does still look fast, according to all reports. Really fast. Clayton looks to be a strong rookie wideout, but he is still a rookie wideout. Will he be another Randy or Anquain? I doubt it, but I think he may contribute 35-40 catches and some key first downs. Joe J. hasn’t hit the field yet, buy it was lower back spasms not his knee keeping him down. I certainly hope he gets back to form, both because he seems to be a class act and because he made 2 of the prettiest catches I saw all of last year before getting injured. Charles Lee hasn’t looked good this year, but pads go on tomorrow. At RB, I am very glad Alstott is back. We lacked a power runner for the tough inside yards while he was out last year. I am thrilled to have picked up Garner. We haven’t had an explosive back like him since Dunn left. Brad Johnson will be fine, I think. He tailed off late last season, but that was I think caused largely by: the keyshawn fiasco, really bac line play, and no consistent running game. I wish we had kept Jones and let Pittman leave, but I am hoping that garner keeps Mike on the sidelines even after his 3 games are served. O-line is the biggest question mark of all. We brought in a lot of beef, but O’Dwyer is already on the IR. How well they mesh, and how much the line as a whole is improved, will dictate whether we make the playoffs, I think.
For now, I’m a cautious believer. I will feel a whole lot better, though, if the starting O-Line does not include Kenyatta “facemask or hold?” Walker.
I’m in. Never done an auction draft before, so bear with me.
Oh yeah, Tampa sucks. Sorry. Michael Clayton is a specimen, though.
Saints fan?
Or has some other traumatic event caused the severe atrophy of your football senses? 
(Glad you can still recognize Clayton’s value, though. There may be hope for a recovery.)
Ahem.
E
A
G
L
E
S
Eagles.
Traumatic event’s putting it mildly. More like one long trauma with intermittent bursts of hope.
As an aside, a guy I know bet me $50 that the Eagles would go to the Superbowl this year. All that has to happen for me to win is for any other NFC team to go.
Yes, he is a :wally .
Ah – an Igglet. That brings back fond memories.
If only we could close down the Vet more than once. 
Ah, that was a great day. It was almost as much fun knocking the Flyers out on the way to the Stanley Cup. As my father wisely put it, “Philly is Tampa’s bitch now”. I haven’t checked the schedule yet but I have to assume that the Bucs are scheduled to play in Philly again this year. And note that Jimmy’s address is in Tallahasee. There are so many different ways to go with that, but I’ll just let it go. Some of my favorite Bucs (and ex-Bucs) were once Noles.
Looks like it might have been too early to stir up the fantasy faithful. (Or perhaps I should have put “football” in teh title.) Ah well, I shall try again in a week or so.
Any tips on how to do an auction draft? I don’t have a clue. As an additional suggestion, we could make it a survivor league - that way we can keep track of it later in the season (survivor leagues require absolutely no participation past the draft).
As my fantasy draft I’ll select the Oakland Raiderettes, but you guys go ahead and draft the players if you’d rather.
On a serious note, in an auction draft you have to know the scoring system and develop a budget for each position, based on projected scoring, of course. Try to bid up the early rounds to drive up the price to over market value for well known but over the hill players and then try to get the up and comers with the savings. Remember that having a large quantity of good scoring players is better than have one high priced superstar with a bunch of bums. Easier said than done, I know.
zamboni hit the strategy pretty much on the head. I can certainly create a survivor league instead. I think we only have 3 folks signed up right now. I’ll create a survivor league, same name and password, and close the old league once people have moved over.
Correction. It would not let me use the same name.
Survivor League Name: Straight Dope
Password: cecil